PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF RIGID THICK ORIGAMI IN KINETIC ARCHITECTURE A DARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTORATE OF ARCHITECTURE DECEMBER 2015 By Scott Macri Dissertation Committee: David Rockwood, Chairperson David Masunaga Scott Miller Keywords: Kinetic Architecture, Origami, Rigid Thick Acknowledgments I would like to gratefully acknowledge and give a huge thanks to all those who have supported me. To the faculty and staff of the School of Architecture at UH Manoa, who taught me so much, and guided me through the D.Arch program. To Kris Palagi, who helped me start this long dissertation journey. To David Rockwood, who had quickly learned this material and helped me finish and produced a completed document. To my committee members, David Masunaga, and Scott Miller, who have stayed with me from the beginning and also looked after this document with a sharp eye and critical scrutiny. To my wife, Tanya Macri, and my parents, Paul and Donna Macri, who supported me throughout this dissertation and the D.Arch program. Especially to my father, who introduced me to origami over two decades ago, without which, not only would this dissertation not have been possible, but I would also be with my lifelong hobby and passion. And finally, to Paul Sheffield, my continual mentor in not only the study and business of architecture, but also mentored me in life, work, my Christian faith, and who taught me, most importantly, that when life gets stressful, find a reason to laugh about it. ii Abstract Folding elements have already been used in architecture as either: (a) simple or negligibly thin folds such as tent-like structures; (b) thick panels with single straight hinges; or (c) flat, faceted forms that appear to have been folded. What is seldom seen is folding in more complicated patterns that also use thick panels. The more complicated crease patterns inspired from origami cannot be used interchangeably between thin and thick materials. Further, once a folding feature is designed, it must have a way to attach to the main/super structure and have a means to deploy. If design parameters and attachments can be better presented and understood, more origami patterns that are rigid and thick may be incorporated into kinetic architecture or rigid-thick origami kinetic architecture. This research creates a useful primer for understanding and designing rigid-thick origami structures by simplifying and organizing existing knowledge on rigid- thick origami into a more accessible format for designers and architects without the need for deep mathematical background. It also presents a variety of design patterns which can be altered or adapted along provided guidelines, as well as propose some methods in which to attach and operate some of these designs on a superstructure through documentation of a working prototype. The hope is that more rigid-thick origami concepts will be available to allow for more practical and aesthetic design opportunities in the field of kinetic architecture. iii Contents Acknowledgments................................................................................................ i Abstract............................................................................................................... ii List of Figures................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .......................................................................................................x 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................1 2. Literature Review.................................................................................................2 3. A Brief History Leading to Contemporary Origami............................................4 4. Rendering Line Types in Traditional Crease Patterns .........................................6 5. Flat-Foldable Origami..........................................................................................8 6. Rigid-Thin Origami .............................................................................................9 7. Rigid-Thick Origami..........................................................................................12 8. Rendering Rigid-Thick Crease Patterns.............................................................16 9. Design Families .................................................................................................17 9.1 Reverse Fold Family............................................................................18 9.1.1 Simple Reverse Fold.............................................................18 9.1.2 Arbitrary Reverse Fold .........................................................20 9.1.3 Arbitrary Reverse Fold with Controls...................................23 9.1.4 Split Hinge ............................................................................24 9.1.5 Flat Hinge..............................................................................26 9.1.6 Double Tier Reverse Fold.....................................................27 9.1.7 Triangle Array.......................................................................28 9.2 Tile Tessellation Family ......................................................................30 9.2.1 Rotated Pop-Up Tabs at 90° .................................................31 9.2.2 Rotated Pop-Up Tabs at 60° .................................................32 9.2.3 Alternating Pop-Up Tabs ......................................................34 9.2.4 Scales ....................................................................................35 9.2.5 Pop-Up Squares ....................................................................37 9.3 Flawed Rigid Thick-Patterns ...............................................................40 9.3.1 Wedge Miura-Map................................................................40 iv 9.3.2 Square Twist Fold.................................................................41 9.3.3 Square Waterbomb................................................................42 9.3.4 Stacked Waterbomb Pleat.....................................................43 9.3.5 Tri-Twist Fold.......................................................................44 9.3.6 Hex-Twist Fold .....................................................................45 10. Historical Precedents and Case Studies ...........................................................46 10.01 Acorn House: Carl Koch, Huson Jack, John Callender...........................................................47 10.02 Motto Markies: Eduard Böhtlingk.................................................47 10.03 Klein Bottle House.........................................................................48 10.04 Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre: Studio Gang Architects..................................................................48 10.05 Resonant Chamber.........................................................................49 10.06 Appended Space.............................................................................50 10.07 Solar Power, Origami-Style...........................................................51 10.08 Al Bahr Towers..............................................................................52 10.09 Kenetura: Kine Tower....................................................................53 10.10 Hofman Dujardin: Bloomframe.....................................................53 10.11 Schlaich, Jörg: Folding Bridge over the Förge ..............................54 10.12 Aegis Hyposurface.........................................................................54 10.13 WHITEvoid interactive art & design: FLARE kinetic ambient reflection membrane...............................55 10.14 Mitsuru’s Magnolia Stadium: Yanko Design ................................55 10.15 Hoberman Arch: Hoberman Associates.........................................56 10.16 Kiefer Technic Showroom: Ernst Giselbrecht & Partner...........................................................56 10.17 Heatherwick Studio: Rolling Bridge..............................................57 10.18 Dominique Perrault Architecture: Olympic Tennis Centre..................................................................57 10.19 Mats Karlsson: Xile .......................................................................58 v 10.20 Tine Hovsepian: Cardborigami; Shelters for natural disaster victims...............................................58 10.21 Sanna Lindström and Sigrid Strömgren: Grand Central Table.......................................................................59 10.22 Rigid Twist Detail..........................................................................60 10.23 Singapore’s National Design Center: SCDA Architects ...............61 11. Simulating Rigid-Thick Origami .....................................................................62 11.1 Modeling Concepts ............................................................................62 11.2 Formulas ............................................................................................63 11.3 Rhino Grasshopper.............................................................................66 12. Construction Prototypes...................................................................................73 12.1 Simple Reverse Fold..........................................................................73